A Book on the order (tariqa)
of the Ba'Alawi sayids. As the newest part of the Imam Al-Haddad Spiritual
Masters Series- The Sublime Treasures is an important work in the field of
Islamic spirituality.
This volume contains Imam Al-Haddad's answers to letters he received posing
questions on easily confusing and subtle Sufi matters, presented in Imam
Haddad's inimitable style of succinct clarity. Included are questions pertaining
exclusively to Sufism, such as those concerning the Pole of Time and the Circle
of Saints, the Afrad- who are the solitary saints said by some to be outside the
jurisdiction of the Pole and in direct contact with al-Khidr, the definition of
the siddiq, that of the majdhub, the states of extinction and subsistence,
various technical points concerning the relationship between the master and the
novice, Sufi courtesy with God and His saints, the worlds of Mulk, Malakut,
Jabarut, and Lahut, which are the degrees of universal existence, and how to
deal with obscure passages in the works of such esoteric writers as Ibn Arabi.
There are also questions of a more general tenor, such as those concerning the
degrees of the Garden and its gates, the merits of recitation of the Qur'an over
awrad, the respective merits and courtesies of poverty and wealth, and of fame
and obscurity, the offering of the rewards of certain acts of worship to the
spirits of the dead, sins committed in Ramadan when devils are shackled, and the
causes of the civil wars that Ali ibn Abi-Talib was forced to wage.

It will be noticed how the Imam curtly sweeps aside anything that has no direct
bearing on the traveler's path. Questions devoid of practical value are
pitilessly dismissed in a summary manner and the reader is firmly reoriented to
what is of immediate benefit to him. Sufi masters have always been most
reluctant to discourse openly about Divine secrets, knowing that such discourse
causes much confusion and frequently leads novices into believing or pretending
they have reached that which they have not. The Imam, however, allowed himself
more freedom in letters addressed to his scholarly disciples- extracts of which
constitute this volume- than in books.

The Sublime Treasures - Table of
Contents:

Translator's
Introduction xii

1. The thoughts that occur
to one who has reached God the Exalted. 2

2. The sins of the gnostics.
5

3. Ranks of the men of
God. 7

4. Mixing with sinful
persons. 11

5. Being slow to acts of
goodness, while fondof goodness and good people. 12

6. To conceal or reveal
one’s activities. 14

7. Which of the Qur’an,
tasbı, or tahlıl is better for a wird? 15

8. To prolong each ritual
prayer or shorten it to increase the number of prayers? 15

9. On thoughts that occur
at night. 16

10. The farthest people from
God the Exalted are those who refer to Him most frequently. 20

11. The soul’s address to
the heart. 20

12. Should the shaykh be
loved for himself, his qualities, or the comfort that he provides? 21

13. The prayer of the
Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) for Ibn ‘Abb�s. 21

14. Those who are too
occupied with the remembrance of God to petition Him. 22

15. A shaykh should know the
principles of religion and their applications. 23

16. The circles of the
saints. 24

17. Denying the karamat
of the saints. 24

18. The angels’
interrogation of people in their graves. 25

19. On the gardens of
Paradise and the fire. 25

20. On preferring others to
oneself. 27

21. The times for the
morning and evening invocations. 29

22. Rubbing one’s body after
recitation. 29

23. The meaning of
‘traveling’ to God the Exalted. 29

24. Discretion as regards
spiritual states and stations. 30

25. Standing before God.
30

26. The disciple’s
blameworthy desire for karamat.
31

27. Are the angels superior
to the Prophets? 31

28. Non-Arabic words in
invocations and prayers. 32

29. “God does what He wills,
whether of possible or impossible things.” 33

30. Sitting with those
before whom one is shy. 34

31. Does ostentation cancel
a deed’s reward? 35

32. Acting for the sake of
other-worldly rewards. 35

33. Remembrance: silent or
aloud? 37

34. A valley in hell for
hypocrite scholars. 38

35. On experiences of
remembrance. 39

36. Invocations of the
tongue then of the heart. 39

37. A state of absence–that
occurs to the invokers. 40

38. Sicknesses of the heart
of no known cause. 40

39. Good works bearing
fruits in this world. 41

40. Comparison between two
persons in their expectation of death. 41

41. The beginning of the
quest (ir�da). 42

42. Heat that invokers
experience inwardly. 42

43. The benefits consequent
upon saying l� il�ha illa’ll�h. 43

44. On isolation (‘uzla).
44

45. “A man is with whom he
loves.” 45

46. Conditions in which God
establishes His servants. 46

47. States of the soul
during remembrance. 47

48. ‘Spontaneity.’ 48

49. Relative merits of
poverty and wealth. 49

50. Prolongation of
lifespans. 51

51. “The soul falls back on
its habits when hardships come...” 52

52. Acting according to the
noble stations. 53

53. Fearing ostentation.
54

54. ‘Knowledge’, ‘eye’ and
‘truth of certainty.’ 54

55. Reflecting on the
stations. 55

56. “Listening, then
understanding, then arriving, then tasting.” 55

57. The shaykh refining the
disciple. 56

58. The meaning of
“erasure.” 57

59. More on “A man is with
whom he loves.” 59

60. On falling back. 60

61. The rules of isolation
and retreat. 61

62. Experiences and
unveilings of the gnostics. 63

63. On the disciple’s
closeness to the master. 63

64. Verses by Shaykh Abü
‘Alı Al-Rüdhb�rı. 65

65. Thoughts that alarm.
67

66. Remaining seated in
one’s place after the dawn prayer. 68

67. The difference between
powerlessness and weakness. 69

68. Comparison between two
shaykhs. 70

69. “Who is the disciple?
Who is the Sufi andwhat is Sufism? And what does a man do to become a Sufi?” 71

70. Sulük, mun�zal�t, and iß†il�m.
72

71. Invoking blessings on
the Messenger of God after adh�n. 72

72. On backbiting. 77

73. Do the believers among
jinn share in gnosis and the vision of God? 78

74. Can a man with no
progeny pray for his dhurriyya? 78

75. On people sprouting
before the resurrection. 79

76. How a man can enter the
Garden from all eight gates. 80

77. ˘adiths concerning the
resurrection of arrogant people in the form of small specks of dust. 80

78. Ghaz�lı’s saying “Not
everyone has a heart.” 81

79. The Prophet answers
Muslims who salute him. 82

80. Forms of the people of
the Garden and those of the Fire. 82

81. To have more than one
shaykh. 83

82. On audition. 84

83. The first step on the
path of God. 84

84. Should the disciple
commit himself entirely to the master? 84

85. Differences between the
visible and invisible realms. 84

86. On following an
example. 85

87. Attachment to created
beings. 87

88. Loving the virtuous.
88

89. Reacting to praise and
criticism. 89

90. “He who knows himself
knows his Lord.” 90

91. “Audition” for those who
have crossed the states and stations. 92

92. The acts of created
beings. 92

93. About those Muslims who
fought ‘Alı. 93

94. Gatherings held in
mosques where love poetry is sung. 96

95. On forgetting and being
forgotten. 98

96. The ram that the people
of al-Ghıl call Mus�yir. 100

97. On courtesy. 101

98. One’s intention when one
salutes the virtuous. 102

99. Specific questions
concerning the Sunna. 102

100. About invocations before
sleep 102

101. Whether the musabba‘�t
could be requited later if missed. 103

102. Attending gatherings
where music is played. 103

103. Feeling more inclination
for the sciences of the outward than for those of the inward. 103

104. A specific question on
adab. 104

105. On reciting the wird
while walking. 104

106. The regular recitation
of the litanies of Shaykh Abul ˘asan al-Sh�dhilı. 104

107. On certain verses of
poetry. 105

108. On the eternity of
hell. 107

109. Those who were never
reached by the summons [to Islam] but who nevertheless behaved in certain

matters according to the religious
Law. 109

110. On increasing in rank
through one’s master. 110

111. Teaching children and
others. 111

112-118. The definition of
sincerity, the sincere, total truthfulness and the ßiddıq. 112-118

119. ˘aqıqa and sharı‘a.
121

120. On the saying of a
shaykh “I have given you authorization for sciences that neither

Messenger, Prophet nor near angel
know about…” 122

121. Questions on certainty
and other matters. 123

122. On different lengths of
awrad. 126

123. Donating the reward for
one’s actions to the dead. 127

124. On the saying “May God
increase our reward for the affliction of prolonged distraction.” 128

125. The faith of the
follower. 130

126. Which is better,
knowledge or love? 131

127. When one’s parents urge
upon one the pursuit of worldly means. 132

128. What if a walı does
something that damages his integrity? 133

129. On the conditions for
investiture. 135

130. Can a man who fears
ostentation teach religious sciences? 136

131. The bodies of the people
of the Garden and their speech. 137

132. The children of Muslims
and of idolators. 138

133. A verse from Ibn al-F�ri∂.
139

134. People who are wronged
and avenge themselves and others who do not. 140

135. On extinction. 142

136. The levels of the
garden. 144

137. On a statement by Ibn
al-‘Arabı. 145

138. “Abandon all the world
and you will find all the world.” 146

139. Works to be done by day
and works to be done by night. 147

140. The community at the
Resurrection. 147

141. On reciting Sürat Al-Ikhl�s.
148

142. On divestment. 148

143. Should the gnostic
reprove the act of a created being? 149

144. The perfection of
gnosis. 150

145. When dreaming of the
saints stops. 151

146. The science of signs.
152

147. Seeking beneficial
sciences. 153

148. The sign of an
unanswered prayer. 153

149. The ‘resting pause.’
154

150. Dedicating one’s reward
for a monetary charity to the dead. 155

151. On the term “light” as
used by the Sufis. 156

152. “The seventy and the
eight” of Abul-˘asan al-Sh�dhilı. 157

153. Reciting the litanies of
Shaykh Abul-˘asan al-Sh�dhilı. 158

154. On circles of dhikr and
other matters. 158

155. On a saying of the
Prophet. 160

156. Each verse of the Qur’�n
has an outward, an inward, a limit and a rising place. 160

157. The maghrib prayer
during Ramad�n. 161

158. The prayer for rain.
162

159. On committing sins
during Ramad�n. 163

160. On the Garden. 163

161. On the ˛adith “Were I
and the Son of Mary to be judged for what these two have committed…” 164

162. On the ˛adith “The one
who stands up [in prayer] with ten verses will not be recorded

Imam
Abdallah Ibn-Alawi Al-Haddad lived in Tarim in the Hadramant Valley between
Yemen and Oman, and is widely held to have been the 'renewer' of twelfth
Islamic century. He was a noted authority on the Shafi'i school of
jurisprudence, and a writer on devotional matters, both in poetry.
His sanctity and direct experience of God are clearly reflected in his writings,
which include several books, a collection of Sufi letters, and a volume of
mystical poetry.
He spent most of his life in Kenya and Saudi Arabia where he taught Islamic
jurisprudence and classical Sufism according to the order (tariqa) of the
Ba'Alawi sayids and he died in 1132 A.H. having spent his life bringing people
to their Lord through his oral and written teaching, and his exemplary life. He
was buried in a simple grave in the cemetary at Tarim.

The translator Mostafa Al Badawi Mostafa
Al Badawi one of the world's
premier translators of Islamic spiritual texts. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist
and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He studied under many shaykhs,
foremost among whom is the late Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad. His other
translations include: Book of Assistance, The Lives of Man, Two Treatises, The
Prophetic Invocations, and Degrees of the Soul. He is also the author of Man and
the Universe: An Islamic Perspective, recently published. He resides in Madinah